UPDATE FEB 25, 2026:

Today is my last day in the hospital! I am very excited to go home. The stitches came out on Monday to my great relief, and the isolation ended yesterday. No more masks, gloves and smocks! the MRSA is gone! whew!

So now the next chapter is recovery. The doctor told me that I should be aware that the recovery process will be a much longer, more arduous process than what one would expect with a normal knee replacement surgery. Because it was operated on 3 times, and a lot of muscles cut and recut, a lot of infected tissue removed, there is a lot more rebuilding and strengthening to do. The ligaments have shortened from the infection and I've lost a lot of muscle mass from lying in bed for 6 weeks. I am optimistic, but I know its a long road ahead.

My 3-week stay at the orthopaedic rehabilitation clinic is unfortunately not for another 30 days. But there's a lot of physiotherapy I can do at home.

I'm just happy to be going home, and am not going to worry about when I can get back to DJing again for now. but hopefully soooon! I miss it!

UPDATE FEB 10, 2026:

They are operating tomorrow. I just talked to the operating surgeon. He said its very rare that they see an infection like this so early after a Knie TEP. 1%. He also said something like in the 10 years he’s been here in this hospital, he hasn’t seen anything like this. Apparently, its very rare. He also said we should light a candle that this works this time, because if they can’t get all of the Keim out with this operation, the next step is the horror story my parents told me, where they have to remove the entire knee, all of the metal and everything, and wait several weeks for it all to “dry out” before they can start over again. But we’re not there yet. Where we are now is, third operation tomorrow, and then 2 more weeks in this room. They have to start the 2-week antibiotic treatment after an OP over again. We’ll see when and where the next rehab clinic opening is after that, Schmannewitz isn’t available again until mid April. It looks like, even if everything goes perfectly from now on, and that’s the most important thing, i still won’t even be able to begin finding new gigs until May. 

Once again, thank you for your continued interest in my story, I hope its not getting boring for you. It helps me to share. Thank you.

UPDATE FEB 9, 2026:

Nope. Got too excited a little too soon. A couple of days ago, on Saturday, my wound started leaking a lot of fluid. I lost quite a lot of it all over the floor. I’m going to guess 50ml just in puddles on the floor. I was sure that the Staph was winning again, and got very very upset. I cried. In front of the cleaning dude and the nurse. It was very embarrassing. The morning passed slowly as I tried to relax and not be so upset, and then the afternoon, until finally the doctor came. He reassured me that this was most likely not the Staph infection, just complications with the healing process, and fluids collecting in the knee after an operation were normal. Waves of relief washed over me for the rest of the day. I was elated! Not the Staph! Normal! Whew!

When I woke up yesterday morning and it was leaking again, I wasn’t happy about it, but not nearly as upset the day before. The doctor came around noon and this time he said, “this looks much worse than yesterday. The whole knee is red and swollen. It’s still leaking from this same place that refuses to heal. You do have an active bacterium that you’re still fighting, this is still serious. It looks like we will have to go in and clean it out again. But I can’t decide that, the Chefarzt (head doctor) will have to decide that tomorrow.” 27 hours of uncertainty and worry later, the doctor came with the Oberartz (I dunno, the doctor over my doctor but not the actual lead doctor of the hospital?) today. They took out half of the stitches, with the intention of taking out the other half tomorrow. They are keeping me here until at least Wednesday the 12th of February, when the actual Chefarzt is back from vacation, or something. He will then look at it and make a final decision about what to do. In any case, I called the taxi and told them he wouldn’t be transporting me on the 10th to the rehab clinic in Schmannewitz. I called the social worker, she said if I don’t show up by the 12th of February, there won’t be another opening until April sometime.

So… it’s 48 hours of waiting again. Waiting to see if I’ll get out of here or not. But the wound is leaking out all over as I am writing this, so it’s currently difficult to imagine them not having to operate again.

Thank you all for your continued interest, and letting me share all of this in all these details with you. I don’t feel so excited right now about anything to be honest, but it does feel good to share this with you all.

Thank you.

UPDATE FEB 2, 2026:

Good news! I looks like I won't be needing a third operation! yay. I do have to stay in the hospital for another 8 days however, waiting for the wound to dry up finally, and to receive an antibiotic drip twice a day. I'll need to take antibiotics for a total of 10 weeks.

Then, if everything works out, I will be able to start my 3-week stay at the Schmannewitz Klinik. If all goes really well, I hope to be able to slowly start djing again around mid march! Fingers crossed please, Daumen gedrückt bitte!

There's more good news. I have been able to wear a mask and gloves and leave my room and start walking (more of a hobble still) up and down the hall. I made it twice all the way to the other end so far! the resulting pain in the wound is definitely worth the feeling my muscles get after finally getting some movement.

For full disclosure, I'll also give you the not so good news, the foot on my operated leg is twisted out toward the right, like a ducks foot, when I walk. That is a bit disconcerting to me, but hopefully it's not like an old tree that's just grown that way now, and physiotherapy will be able to correct it and I won't have a permanently twisted, old driftwood leg! hopefully nothing to worry about, I'm sure it will be fine. Perhaps it will change when I finally get this brace off.

Also, I get these sudden spams in the leg at night which keeps me up most of the night, so I haven't been getting much sleep, even with sleeping pills. the whole leg just involuntarily contracts really tightly until the whole bed shakes. 3 days ago it was every 15 minutes, 2 days ago it was every 5 minutes, last night it was every minute while I was trying to sleep. The doctor doesn't know what it is yet. He told me to take magnesium, but I've already been doing that for days now. hopefully. this too shall pass.

Ok I'll end with more good news: I am able to focus again, which means I've been able to start using my time here for music and writing. yes! everything happens for a reason, right? Grateful for this creative time.

I really want to thank you all for following my healing journey, thank you for your support here, it is really helping me bridge the gap until I can work again, and thank you also for the many, many kind messages I have received on Whatsapp, Telegram, Signal, Facebook and Instagram! It's been lovely to have the time to get back in touch with so many sweet, caring people, and also be able to find out how they are doing. I'll tell you, I am definitely not the only one struggling right now! I spoke to so many other people who are also fighting epic battles right now, some of them far more dire than my own.

I love you all, and I wish that you may filled with loving kindness, that you are safe from inner and outer dangers, that you are well in body, heart and mind, and that you find yourself happy, at ease, and free.

Much Love,

Jake

UPDATE JAN 28, 2026:

Well, I've had a complication with my surgery. And my complication had a few complications. I am now in the Hospital again, this time with an MSRA, a Multi or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as Staph infection.

I had the full knee replacement surgery on January 9th, and all went well. I left the hospital feeling pretty good on January 16th. I was walking around on my crutches, climbing stairs to the apartment, doing dishes, hanging up laundry, putting my son to bed... I was on the up and up! (perhaps also doing a little too much tbh)

On Friday, when I was supposed to get the stitches out, the doctor told me my leg was infected and pulled 190ml of clear fluid out of it. He gave me some very strong pain killers and sent me home and told me to go the ER if it got worse again. He said he would send the sample into the lab, just in case. Well, it got worse again right away, but I figured that was just from all the digging and drilling and pressing he had to do to get all that fluid out. Anyway, I waited, in excruciating pain, until Sunday to go to the Emergency Room. There they took out another couple hundred millilitres of fluid out of my leg and sent that to the lab, and then operated on me within a few hours. They replaced the plastic part of my knee and really cleaned the whole leg out. from the reaction of the anaesthesiologist who helped me wake up, I felt like they reheheally cleaned it out, because he was ready to treat me for the neverending waves of pain which were about to hit me.

The next day I saw the head doc and he explained what had happened, and that they didn't yet know what kind of infection I had, and that we had to wait for it to grow long enough in it's Petri dish to find out. That night was filed with excruciating pain and uncertainty.

Then, yesterday afternoon, they got the results. They hadn’t told me yet, but I could guess what they were by the sudden change in behaviour. the nurses all became nervous, had to put on gloves and masks, and immediately moved me into my own private room to quarantine me. And that's where I am now.

I will be on Antibiotics for the next 10 weeks. I will be here in the hospital at least another week or two, hopefully soon able to move my leg. I didn't mention that my leg is in a cast with some tubes hanging out, and I don't have the strength to lift it at all. I will spare you all my pain stories, but suffice to say, there are a lot of 10 out of 10 pain level stories in there. Well, things are looking a little better today actually. They took the second tube out of my leg (yeeeeeoooowtch!) and did a little PT with me. I still can’t move the leg by myself, and there is one small spot on the wound the doctors are still concerned about. If that doesn’t close up completely by Friday, it looks like they’ll have to open the whole thing up again on Monday or Tuesday and start over. Again. I really don’t want a 3rd surgery. So, wish me luck on the healing, especially for the next couple of days! Thanks!

I am hoping that I'll be on my feet again soon, that the antibiotics will save me from this apparently very dangerous and resistant bacteria, and that I will be able to make my NEW appointment on February 10th for my 3 week overnight rehabilitation in the Schmannewitz Clinic. my original date was tomorrow the 28th of January. Obvs not making that.

I was not planning for this long of a break from work. I had gigs lined up starting February 27th, and I have to cancel them now.

So I would once again like to ask for your help. And hey, I really, really appreciate all the help all of you have given me so far! I had hoped it would be more than enough. These unexpected circumstances, however, bring me once more to ask the world for some more support and love, so I can get back on my feet as soon as possible and finally pay this all back by doing what I am best at, supporting and loving my fans and community around the world through my work: my music and thoughts and art, and the individual conversations I miss having with each and every one of you!

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I had arthroscopic knee surgery a couple of months ago, and unfortunately, the recovery hasn’t gone as we’d hoped. I’m still in frequent pain and limited in mobility, even with consistent physiotherapy and proper care. After meeting with my doctor last week, we agreed that it’s now time to move forward with a full knee replacement.

The main challenge is that this requires me to take time away from gigs, studio work, and a lot of family responsibilities to recover properly. And right now, more than ever, I’ve reconnected with my creative flow. I’m working on new music—and even a book—drawing from the lessons, stories, and experiences collected during my travels around the world. I don’t believe people can truly be taught things, but they can be reminded of what they already know in new ways. Hopefully fun, moving, and maybe a little absurd ways.

Recently, my experience at Burning Man and reading Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act helped me reconnect with what I believe is my purpose: to create, to tell stories, and to pass on what I’ve gathered through my art, music and words. Those moments reminded me how much connection, playfulness, and emotional truth matter — and how much I still have to share if I give myself the space to do it fully.

I would love to feel safe enough over the next months—possibly up to half a year—to really focus on my health, my recovery, my family, and the creative process. I still plan to work and perform whenever possible, but I want to be able to give my energy primarily to healing and making something meaningful from this moment.

This is why I’ve created this GoFundMe—to give those who have expressed wanting to support me over the years a direct way to do so. If you’ve appreciated what I’ve done so far, and believe in what I could create in the time ahead, I would be deeply grateful for your support.

I’m aware that many people face difficult challenges, and I want to acknowledge that with respect and humility. My intention in asking for support is not to place my situation above anyone else’s, but to allow me to continue contributing in the best way I know how—through creativity, presence, and connection. If this resonates with you, and if my work has ever made a difference to you, your support now would help me use this recovery period to heal fully and to create something meaningful from it. And if this inspires you to support someone else in need instead, that matters too.

Thank you for considering this, truly. And thank you for being part of my story all this time.